. >>> president obama is looking for support outside of washington, d.c. yesterday, at a police academy, not far from the sight of last summer's shooting in colorado, the president focused on background checks saying his goal is not to take firearms away from their owners. >> the opponents of these common sense laws have ginned up fears among responsible gun owners that have nothing to do with what's being proposed or nothing to do with the facts but feeds into a suspicion about government. if there are folks out there right now who are gun owners hearing somebody is taking away your guns, get the facts. we are not proposing a gun registration system. we are proposing background checks for criminals. >> president obama used a similar argument in a plea to gun shop owners. >> if you are selling a gun, wouldn't you want to know who you are selling it to? wouldn't you want to know? wouldn't you want, in your conscience to know the person you are selling to isn't going to commit a crime? >> despite the president's push, any mandate on the federal level to expa